Type 62: TRNSYS-Excel link

This section gives step-by-step instructions for
reasonably advanced TRNSYS users who are using TRNSYS 15.3.00, Excel 97 and
higher and Compaq Visual Fortran 6.6B.
Please refer to the next sections for detailed instructions and
troubleshooting.

Open your TRNSYS workspace in the
compiler (%TrnsysRoot%\WorkSpace\CVF66B\CVF66B.dsw)

Add Type62.f90 and xl_contr.f90 (both are in %TRNSYSRoot%\TrnLib\RWTH-Aachen\SourceCode\) to the "Types"
folder under TRNLIB Files (right click, select add, browse to the files)

Rebuild Trnlib (F7)

Launch IISiBat and open %TRNSYSRoot%\TrnLib\RWTH-Aachen\Examples\trnsys-excel.tpf

Press F8 to run the simulation.

Note: To add Type 62 to a new project, select
its proforma in \TrnLib\RWTH-Aachen\Calling Excel

Type 62 Description

Object

TRNSYS - Excel link

Abstract

This TYPE
allows the user to embed models that are programmed in Microsoft Excel

Detailed description

This
TRNSYS Type implements a link with Excel. The Fortran routine communicates with
Excel through a Component Object Model (COM) interface, which allows a
fast data transfer.

TRNSYS sends the component's inputs to given cells in your excel
worksheets. Those cells must be identified by defining an excel-name
("Input1" ... "Input10"). In Excel, names can be defined i.e. by using the
shortcut "Strg+F5". In the same way outputs must get names like "Output1"
... "Output10".

The Type's parameters are the path and name of your *.xls-file, the number
of inputs and outputs and whether the excel application should be visible
or not. During the simulation the input values will be transferred to your
specified excel cells and (after recalculating) the output values will be
sent back to Type 62. An optimized algorithm reduces the amount of data
transferred between the TRNSYS-code and the excel application to improve
the simulation speed

Icon

Author

Oertker/Wriske

Organization

Chair of
Technical Thermodynamics, RWTH-Aachen, Germany

Editor

MKu

Creation date

2003-04-10

Modification date

2003-07-24

Model type

Empirical

Validation

QualitativeExperimental

Type number

62

Allowed instances

Keywords

Excel
external
link

Parameters

Indice

Name

Dimension

Unit

Type

Min

Max

Default

Comment

1

number of inputs

dimensionless

-

integer

0

10

3

Number of
inputs (please define the corresponding names in the Excel workbook,
Input1 to InputN)

2

number of outputs

dimensionless

-

integer

1

10

3

Number of
outputs (please define the corresponding names in the Excel workbook,
Output1 to OutputN)

3

Excel is visible

dimensionless

-

boolean

0

1

0

Set this
parameter to 1 if you want excel to be visible during the simulation. If
this parameter is set to 0, excel will run hidden in the background

4

Filename

Dimensionless

-

string

-Inf

+Inf

See comment

Attention: The filename is entered as a comment, after a dummy value for the parameter.The parameter should look as follows: 1 * path_and_filenameE.g. 1 * C:\Trnsys15\TrnLib\RWTH-Aachen\Examples\Profile.xls

Inputs

Indice

Name

Dimension

Unit

Type

Min

Max

Default

Comment

1..n

input

any

-

real

-Inf

+Inf

0

Input
sent to Excel. The total number of inputs is set by parameter 1

Outputs

Indice

Name

Dimension

Unit

Type

Min

Max

Default

Comment

1..n

output

any

-

real

-Inf

+Inf

0

Output
from Excel. The total number of outputs is set by parameter 2

How to add the
required files to TRNSYS

1. General information

The following information applies to TRNSYS
15.3.00 and above and assumes you are using the Compaq Visual Fortran
6.6B
compiler. However, you should be able to apply the method to
other
versions and different compilers.

In the following, the strings
hereunder will refer to the folders in which
these 3 programs are installed:

Program

Install Folder

Example (default install
folder)

TRNSYS 15.3.00

%TRNSYSRoot%

C:\Trnsys15

Compaq Visual Fortran 6.6B

%CVFRoot%

C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Visual Studio\DF98

1.1. Included files and their
location

Note: if you unzip the files in the
package and select your TRNSYS root folder for the destination
directory, all files should be saved at the correct location. This will
replace your current param.inc but the new one is fully compatible with
TRNSYS 15.3.00 (see 3.1)

2. Computer Setup

If the programs (TRNSYS 15.3.00 and above,
Excel 97 and above) have been correctly installed, you should not need to do
anything.

3. Add Type62 to your Trnlib DLL

3.1. If you are using CVF 6.6B

Open the Trnsys
Workspace (%TRNSYSRoot%\WorkSpace\CVF66B\CVF66B.dsw). In the left pane,
select "Trnlib files", then the "Types" folder. Right-click and select
"add files to folder". Browse to the location where you have saved
Type62.f90 (e.g. %TRNSYSRoot%\TrnLib\SEL\SourceCode) and select it. Repeat for
xl_contr.f90 (in the same folder).

3.2. If you are not using CVF 6.6B

You should modify
your project to include Type62, as you would do for any non-standard
Type. Instructions are available on the
TRNSYS website (http://sel.me.wisc.edu/trnsys,
see "Fortran Info").

5. Rebuild Trnsys

The easiest way to
rebuild the entire workspace is to use
the "Build/Batch Build" command. You can then select the appropriate
configuration for each one of the three projects. For example, if you
want to be
able to debug your application, select:

Open the example
(trnsys-excel.tpf, which should be in
%TrnsysRoot%\TrnLib\RWTH-Aachen\Examples\trnsys-excel) and press F8 to run it.
Please read trnsys-excel-example.html
for more details on that example.

To use Type62 in other projects, you
should drag it from the direct access tool (the proforma will be in
%TRNSYSRoot%\IIsiBat3\Data\TrnLib\RWTH-Aachen\Calling Excel\)